Terms and Abbreviations for Vintage and Antique Items

Recently I found a lovely set of pottery vases from Belgium. Searching high and low trying to identify them I started surfing. Now I am not a novice to surfing the internet but something happened to make me realize we as dealers take certain things for granted. For instance, those silly little terms one thinks everyone knows, but may not.

I just knew I had found the name of my vases when I ran across the term EXCON. So I proceeded to look high and low for EXCON Pottery. Now there may have been a pottery company at sometime in history by that name, but it turns out I was really looking at the term EX CON. As in Excellent Condition. What a hoot! I had a good laugh at myself.

It got me thinking, possibly others do not know some of the terms thrown around by the antiques and collectibles shop owners from time to time. Here is a lesson on some key terms. I am sure there are many more.

When items are from the past but never used you may see these terms. These generally will have the original tags and are old or vintage but never used or worn.

NOS = New Old Stock

Deadstock or Dead Stock

Orig. Tags = Original Tags

NWOT = New Without Tags

w. tags = With Tags

Orig. Box = Original Box

NIB = New In Box

Many other terms of like new is used by the dealer to convey the desirability of the item. On Ruby Lane vintage is 20 years or older and antique will mean an item is high quality and 100 years. Each lane has certain requirements, such as age or price. Pristine, rare, excellent condition would be a different thing in different lanes and with each shop owner. Please contact the dealers if you should not understand their specific different terms on an item. It is how one learns. From a dealers view it is sometimes hard to figure out what to add to a listing. Sometimes the slightest word or phrase can throw off the search engines. Use the terms to help you find a treasure as Ruby Lane is full of them.